1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunication systems and, in particular, to a method and system for enabling an increased volume of information flow between telecommunication terminals.
2. Description of Related Art
Dialing information in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) was at first generated in the form of pulses. This manner of operation did not however allow the transmission of call-specific supplementary information. Next to be used after pulse dialing, and still commonly in use, is tone frequency dialing. As compared with pulse dialing, tone frequency dialing advantageously provides for faster dialing and the ability to send supplementary information after the conventional dialing string destination digits. In mobile communication systems, such as the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) system, the reception of calls has become less dependent on location, and mobile communication systems have set the scene for the rise of a new form of communication, the short message service. In accordance with natural development, new systems bring about new services and solutions that improve customer satisfaction.
In the ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) system and most mobile communication systems, information regarding identifying the calling party, i.e. the A-number, can be transmitted along with call-specific signaling. In practice, this appears at the receiving terminal as an identifier of the calling party. Moreover, after the completion of call setup various functions can be selected by a caller or user via tone frequency selections based, for example, on a tone frequency menu. In such cases the telephone exchange may communicate with an intelligent peripheral (IP) or the like which is controlled by the tone frequency signals that it receives.
Nevertheless, the transmission of supplementary information to the receiving party's terminal following call setup is slow and, if the receiving number is a specially priced service number, often expensive. Using a data connection or a GSM text message, it is possible to communicate with, for example, an automated application or device. Such communication suffers from the slowness of call setup and variations in the transmission time of GSM text messages. An even more severe and significant problem is that, due to limitations relating to the permissible or acceptable length of the dialing string number, the amount of information that can be transmitted in the B-number or C-number of an initiated call is often insufficient to support or enable the remote operation of many automated applications.